CCM launches Thorpe!
By TMX Archives on 30th Jul 08
AS of next week, four times World motocross champion David Thorpe will assume his full role as Sporting Director of CCM Racing. Thorpe will first fulfil his prior commitment by competing in the final round of the FIM Veteran World championship this coming weekend, before switching his full attention to steering the Bolton-based team forward ready for the 2009 season.
David has already begun work in his new position, with much of his efforts over the last two months having been spent behind the scenes in terms of planning, preparation and recruitment in order to give the team the best possible chance of reaching its new, tough, self-imposed targets. Thorpe's experience and knowledge, which has netted him four World titles over his legendary career, will provide CCM Racing with an important ingredient as they look to move to the next level.
Thorpe has already acquired a new southern base for the racing operation that will allow him to have a closer working relationship with the team on a day-to-day basis, and which will also offer a larger variety of practice tracks plus it will be more convenient for regularly travelling into Europe. In addition to this David has been instrumental in arranging for several top line riders to test the CCM machines over the recent period in order to create a short list of candidates who will fill the available berths next season.
Part of David's role will be to assist the team with the further development of its revolutionary bonded aluminium chassis machine, and with this in mind Thorpe recently made his first outing on the factory CCM and was pleased with what he found.
Said Dave, "Although I have been present when other riders have tested the bike I have been resisting riding it myself, as I wanted to get the last race in Belgium this weekend over with before I rode the CCM. However the temptation got the better of me last week, and I finally rode the MX2 bike for the first time.
"All the riders who have tested both the MX1 and MX2 bikes have been very impressed and now I can see why. Whilst the MX2 machine is not ideally suited to me, the frame felt fantastic – really light and really positive. Having now had my first taste, I can't wait to take delivery of my own bike next week, and to getting used to riding it on a regular basis, before I can start to give any meaningful feedback.”